Petroleum Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Petroleum Engineer designs and develops methods for extracting oil and gas from beneath the surface of the earth. Determines the best process of extracting a deposit of gas or oil, designs drilling equipment, and develops and improves methods of extraction.
Job Outlook
There were 61 Petroleum Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2676 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Reservoir / Petroleum Engineer industry, which includes the Petroleum Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Petroleum Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $114,930.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $114,930.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Petroleum Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $101,063.
Education and Experience
Posted Petroleum Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 60.39% |
| Master's Degree | 17.19% |
| Doctoral Degree | 4.9% |
| Other | 15.77% |
Posted Petroleum Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 21.38% |
| 3 to 5 years | 34.34% |
| 6 to 8 years | 10.26% |
| 9+ years | 34.01% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Petroleum Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (31.61%)
- Operations (31.43%)
- Management (22.65%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (19.51%)
- Leadership (18.87%)
- Planning (17.12%)
- Coordinating (13.75%)
- Research (12.86%)
- Mentorship (12.59%)
- Problem Solving (12.33%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Oil and Gas (44.52%)
- Petroleum Engineering (15.07%)
- Project Management (26.38%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Natural Gas (10.7%)
- Project Engineering (10.87%)
- Electrical Engineering (14.38%)
- Chemical Engineering (10.96%)
- Process Engineering (6.28%)
- Refinery Experience (4.98%)
- Petrochemical (6.63%)
- Construction (15.89%)
- Material Selection (7.45%)
- Auditing (6.5%)
- Engineering Design Process (10.61%)
- Environmental Compliance (9.22%)
- Hazard And Operability Study (6.41%)
- Preventive Maintenance (8.75%)
- Mechanical Engineering (15.37%)
- Process Safety (3.59%)
- Subcontracting (11.22%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Petroleum Engineering (94.05%)
- Reservoir Engineering (20.27%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Petroleum Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Oil and Gas Engineer
- Service Trainer
- Gas Engineer
- Gas Turbine Engineer
- Gas Distribution Engineer
- Field Engineer
- Global Process Engineer
- LNG Operator
- IT Field Engineer
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Petroleum Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Black & Veatch (220)
- Spatco Energy Solutions (180)
- Matchatalent (172)
- CenterPoint Energy (75)
- GE Vernova (60)
- Entrust Solutions Group (46)
- Kiewit Corporation (37)
- Burns & McDonnell (31)
- JF Petroleum Group (30)
- United States Department of the Interior (28)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (24)
- Spatco Energy Solutions (6)
- Entrust Solutions Group (4)
- Esri (3)
- Siemens Energy (2)
- Celonis (2)
- Rise Technical Recruitment Ltd (2)
- Barry-Wehmiller Companies (2)
- Philip Morris International (1)
- Catapult Pte Ltd. (1)
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.